Log inSign up

Este estilo está-se a tornar muito popular agora.

Este estilo está-se a tornar muito popular agora.
This style is becoming very popular now.
From Lesson 279:Pronoun placement with gerunds·Portuguese (Portugal)

Questions & Answers about Este estilo está-se a tornar muito popular agora.

Why is the pronoun -se attached to está instead of tornar?
In Portuguese verbal complexes (like estar a + infinitive, which acts as the continuous tense), you often have a choice of where to put the object pronoun. In a normal affirmative sentence without any 'pull words' (like negative words or certain conjunctions), you can attach it to the auxiliary verb (está-se a tornar) or to the main verb (está a tornar-se). Both are completely correct and natural!
Why do we need the -se here at all? Doesn't tornar just mean 'to become'?
By itself, tornar usually means 'to return' or 'to make' (as in making something else change). To say that a subject itself 'becomes' or changes state, you must use the reflexive form, tornar-se (literally 'to turn itself'). Because the style is changing on its own, we need the -se.
The lesson is about 'gerund' structures, but I see the preposition a + infinitive (a tornar). Why is that?
In European Portuguese, an ongoing continuous action (which English expresses with an '-ing' gerund) is standardly formed with the verb estar + a + the infinitive of the main verb. While Brazilian Portuguese uses words ending in -ndo (like se tornando), people in Portugal almost exclusively use this estar a + infinitive structure.
Could I use ficar instead of tornar-se here to say 'becoming popular'?
Yes, you could definitely say está a ficar muito popular! Both verbs can translate to 'to become'. Tornar-se is often used for a real transformation or a change in status or quality, while ficar is very common for emotional states, physical conditions, or more spontaneous changes. For becoming popular, both are great, though tornar-se sounds slightly more formal.

Learn Este estilo está-se a tornar muito popular agora and more in Portuguese

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Portuguese →